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Nmenth

Do people generally lie on polls?

Do you lie on polls?  

8 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you lie on polls?

    • Yes
      4
    • No
      4


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(The poll is meant to be ironic, the results are irrelevant.)



A certain game developer, whose game-in-development I happen to follow, recently wanted to know the demographics for his game. So he started a few polls, one of which asked the gender of those who played his game. I found this poll to be interesting as after ~68,500 votes at the time I saw it, the Male/Female ratio was split 50%/50%.

I mentioned this to a friend, who found this result to be utterly uninteresting as, according to him, most people lie in polls. I disagreed, and insisted that most people tell the truth.

I put forth the argument that the poll was anonymous, so people had no reason to lie - though even as the words left my mouth, it occurred to me that anonymity seems to bring the very worst out of people.

Now, although I refused to back down, as I do not admit defeat without proof, the fact is that I am not good with human nature and do not understand people very well. I think and act as logically as I can and do nothing on emotional impulse (emotions aren't really something I possess), which means I rarely lie as I almost always consider the truth to be the most rational thing to say.

Since polling people to find out if they lie in polls is paradoxical, I think "proof" for either side of the argument is unobtainable. So I want to know from a larger pool of humans what is their opinion; do people generally lie or tell the truth in polls where they are anonymous, the results aren't super important, the question is merely your gender, and the number of those polled is in the tens of thousands?


(As of writing this, there are now 72,916 votes with the difference between answers being only 16 votes, I still find this fascinating...)

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Why the hell would anyone lie about their gender? :P

 

Voted no.

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Not generally. There will always be people who pick extreme options for the lulz, though. E.g. of you make a poll where you ask the people about their current favourite counrty to go on vaction to and include, say, North Korea and Syria, be assured that these options get picked. It's the Internet after all.

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Depends on the poll. The more relatable the question or the more attached you are to the subject the more serious you will take it. Otoh if you take the poll willingly you are inclined to be more serious about it aswell. but say the poll is some sort of click bait or you have to take before you can enter a part of a website or before you can read a article or watch a movie, no there could be an act of rebelion in it then. Also depending on the demography where the poll was taken the answer could really be 50-50. Women do game alot, just are more present in mobile games, was the target audiance there the poll might be more accurate. Was the poll posted on a hardcore CoD forum....troll central?

 

Where and how you place the poll mathers more then what it is about.

Consider i make a poll that says: What c&c game is the best?

A. Generals

B. Tiberian Sun

C. Red Alert

D. Leisure suit Larry

 

Depending on wich section of these forums i post it the answer will sway in favor of one. And yes some will pick D for the lulz.

Edited by Ravendark

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